Ecuadoran journalist Allen Panchana spoke to UCO students on Wednesday about the state of press freedom in his country.
Panchana, who is the editor-in-chief of Ecuador’s longest-running television station, Ecuavisa, described the difficult environment for journalists in Latin and South America.
“It’s difficult to do journalism in Latin America,” Panchana said. “We can’t always write what we think.”
He outlined the forced closure of one of Ecuador’s largest newspapers, El Universo, following a state-sanctioned libel lawsuit. The paper had to pay the state $40 million in damages, and the managerial staff was sentenced to three years in prison over an article they published that was critical of the state’s use of deadly force during a police uprising.
“The closing of El Universo was like if the New York Times got closed. Unfortunately, it’s common for Latin America,” Panchana said.
During his presentation, Panchana showed two videos. One was an unedited recording of a news report during a police uprising and attempted coup d’état on Sept 30, 2010, in which five people were killed. It featured a street battle between the police and the military.
Panchana explained that the unrest was just the latest in a series of revolts dating back to 1997, and this was part of the challenge of being a journalist in Ecuador.
“Our daily challenge,” he said, “is to survive, defend democracy, make our stories heard and strive for a better world.”